Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1887-11-05
THE ROAD AGENTS.

LIE RUAU AUEN ID.
There were five men of us in one of the
old Mariposa stage coaches before the
days of the railroad, and it was 5 O'Clock
in the afternoon of an August day. We
were on our way to Stockton, and Of the
passengers one was lieutenant in the
regular army, another tourist in search
of health, q third a ranchman, and the
other two were prospectors and miners.
None of us had met each other previous to
the start. Those were perilous times, and
the first half hour was spent in sizing each
other up. don't know to what eonclu-
sion the others came, but looked over
the four men and said to myself:
"The lieutenant ought to fight in case
we are attacked, but ne seems too nervous
to be gamey. The tourist is i'll and has
no sand, but the ranchman and prospector
can be depended on"
At that time the coach which was not
stopped twice out of five trips was con-
sidered very lucky. In some few in
stances the robbers were driven off, but
in most cases the passengers submitted to
being fheld up" and were glad to get off
with nothing worse. had with me over
$4,000 i'll bank bills and gold, and was
determined not to part with that money
without q fight. The ranchman had
$4,000, and the miner about $3000 as
afterwards learned, and both had deter
mined to fight. We had just forded the
MERGED river, and had come to a lonely
stretch of road, when the ranchman pulled
his revolver and examined the caps 1t
was not yet restored to the holster when
81 h., - -,
and the stage came to full stop. |
knowing that robbers were at hand, but
before mine was out the lieutenant flung
his arms around me and cried out:
"For Gods sake make no move or we
shall be murderedl Let them take all we
haver'
At the same time the tourist flung him
self upon the miner, and neither of us had
u weapon out when robber showed him
self at either door. The ranchman was
ready, however, and he killed the man on
his side. He would have also killed the
other, but his revolver failed ON the second
shot, and the robber pushed his revolver
in and fired with the muzzle pressed
against the poor fellows heart. A third
robber then came up, and we were covered
render. The jig was up, and we climbed
out, delivering our pistols butt foremost
as we left the stage. There were four of
us and only two robbers, but when man
has the drop on you and means business
it's no use to kick. We were placed in n
row, and while one of the fellows kept us
covered the other went through each man
in turn. The lieutenant shelled out a
watch and $40, the tourist watch and
$500, and they got from the other two of
us the sums l have previously named.
had my bank bills in my bootlegs, but as
we were forced to strip to our shirts, they
found every last dollar. While we were
dressing the body of the ranchman was
pulled from the coach and stripped and
robbed.
| have no doubt that the robbers meant
to shoot every one of us after securing the
plumber, in order to avenge the death of
their comrade, but the unusually large
booty put them in good spirits, and they
underwent a change of heart. The one
who searched us stepped over the dead
body dozen times without seeming to
care whether it was log or man. When
finally through with us he bent over the
body and began robbing it, saying to his
companion:
"Bil1 won't have any more use for
money, and we might as well take his
dollars along Poor Bill We shen't
never play poker together again.
When they were ready to go they cut
the harness so that the stage would be
detained couple of hours, broke up or
carried of every firearm, and drank to
our health from flask the tourist had
with him. They made off for the foot
hills to the cast, having so little care for
us that neither of them once looked back.
l was mad and no mistake, and the miner
gave utterance to his feelings in curses
which almost cracked the stones around
us. We had been robbed of our every
dollar, and, with the money, our every
prospect. The tourist could get more at
Stockton, and the lieutenant was out only
few dollars any way. l was not yet
dressed when he began to put ON airs over
is, claiming that if we had not been SO
nasty he would have managed the affair
70 the defeat of the robbers. This added
20 my anger and l sailed in and pounded
nim until he yelled for mercy.
1t was just sunset when the stage was
ready to go on, but there were two of us
who did not propose to go that way. We
were unarmed, but determined, and while
the stage numbered off down the rough
road we found club apiece and set out
on the trail of the robbers. Luckily for
us, the miner had been long in the coun-
try and seen good deal of the hunters
life. We therefore had no difficulty in
following the trail until darkness came
on. The fellows made directly for the
foothills, and we had no doubt that they
had some sort of n cave or stronghold out
there. They took matters so coolly that
they could not have been great ways
ahead of us when darkness fell. l was
then for resting until daylight, but the
miner urged that we should push on
From the topography of the country he
felt certain that rayine or rift would be
found not far away. We were then be-
tween the foothills and the true mountain
in narrow valley, and the full moon had
come up. Without this light we could
not have made our way, as the ground
was. much broken and powders lay
thickly scattered about.
We went ahead very cautiously up this
valley for about mile, and of a sudden
rift opened to the left, and the glare of
camp fire greeted our eyes. 1t was not
over 200 feet away, and after minute
we made out the forms of the two men
rs tney seemed 10 De preparing supper.
We had found them, but what of it,
They had all the arms and we were de-
fenseless. We crept back few yards to
hold consultation, and the miner care
fully studied the lay Of the land He
was of the opinion that 1t was short,
dry rift, with a cave at tho far end. The
two sides were inclosed by walls of earth
and rock, and our only way was to attack
the men from above. How high we
would have to climb, or what the difficult
ties, we could not say. We were not three
minutes deciding to make the attempt
and we prepared for il by leaving coats,
vests, hats and boots behind. We be-
gun the ascent about 100 feet back from
the mouth of the rift, and do not believe
two panthers could have done better. The
side of the mountain was thickly covered